Moments

• Today, during my 3rd period, a friend unexpectedly dropped by. The kids didn't even look up from their work when she walked in, and I was able to talk to her for several minutes out in the hallway without any break in their work. This would not have been the case last year.
• Today during 5th period, I met with the new vice-principal who will be doing my observation on Friday. She said that the other times she had been in my classroom she had been impressed wiht me and my teaching style and thought I was a great teacher. She specifically mentioned my classroom management, which is the thing I worry about the most. This makes me feel so much better about Friday - I always get really nervous during observations.
• Today during advisory, I worked one-on-one with a kid who causes problems in a lot of his classes, but whom I connected with last year for some reason. He is one of those problem juniors, but for some reason, we really get along well. He worked on a math test for 40 minutes and while I had to stand over him and read the problems to him, by the end of the 40 minutes he was doing better and I was reminded of one of the reasons I like teaching - sometimes I get to work one-on-one with the kids and really see them "get it."
• Today during 5th period, I worked with the same kid on his science packet for another 40 minutes (he has been removed from his 5th period for the remainer of the week). Despite the difficulty of the material and his fairly low skill level, he managed to work on it and explain several concepts back to me in his own words, again confirming that some of these kids that don't do so well in school would do much better working closely with a teacher. I know that's not economically feasible, but in a perfect world.....

All in all, not a bad day all around.